Universally movable magnetic eye



Nov. 25, 1952 D. E. MACDONALD 2,618,890

UNIVERSALLY MOVABLE MAGNETIC EYE Filed Feb. 6, 1951 INVENTOR l BY /7 I '1,

ATTORNEYS Patented Nov. 25 1952 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE 1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to a magnetic eye construction for dolls, toy animals, advertising displays, or any other objects or locations in which movement of simulated eyes might be desired.

The main object of the present invention is to provide a means for shifting in unison a pair of simulated eyes in a manner to duplicate or approximate closely the movements of the human eye or the eyes of animals.

It is a further important object to provide for this simulated eye movement without the necessity of necessarily moving the doll or other object in which the eyes are mounted.

Described briefly, the invention comprises a supporting bar mountable in the head of a doll or in any other location; upstanding pintles on said bar; directional compass arms supported on the upper ends of the pintles; and hollow bodies supported upon and rotatable with said compass arms, said hollow bodies being formed as simulated eyes and being provided with two or more pupils.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claim, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings:

Figure 1 is a vertical section through a portion of the head of a doll showing in side elevation the magnetic eyes of the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the magnetic eyes.

Fig. 3 is a horizontal section through the magnetic eyes.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary vertical section taken at right angles to the cutting plane of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings in detail, 5 designates the hollow head of a doll, which has been illustrated as one example of a suitable location for mounting of the magnetic eyes constituting the present invention. It will be understood that the magnetic eyes can be mounted at any desired location, as for example in an advertising display panel used in a store window or similar location, in the heads of simulated animals or birds; or in any other desired location, the doll head illustrated being simply shown for the purpose of providing one convenient example of a location where the invention can be used.

In any event, a supporting bar 6 is mounted in the present instance upon a ledge 1 formed in the inner surface of the hollow head 5, and mounted upon said supporting bar 6 and spaced apart a suitable distance are the upstanding pintles 8 having the pointed upper ends 9 on which seat the nodes it formed in the directional compass arms II.

In accordance with the invention, I position over the directional compass arms and pintles the hollow bodies I2 each of which is formed as a segment of a sphere, partially cut away to provide an opening through which the pintle 8 extends. When positioned over the directional compass arms in this manner, the hollow bodies [2 will be supported upon the opposite ends of each arm as best seen in Figs. 2 and 3, and will be rotatable with the respective arms when said arms are rotated relative to the pintles on which they are supported.

As seen from Figs. 1 and 4, in the present instance each of the hollow bodies I2 is positioned so as to be exposed through the eye sockets l3 formed in the hollow head 5, and each body i2 is painted or otherwise for-med with simulations of pupils M of which I prefer that there be two or more in number, the pair illustrated being diametrically opposite.

I believe the operation of the magnetic eyes will be readily apparent. For example, if the toy or object is held stationary, and a strong magnet is moved nearby, the globular shells or bodies i2, though they are themselves of nonmagnetic material, will follow in unison, so that the pupils thereof will simultaneously shift from one end of the eye socket to another. Or, in the case of an advertising display, used in a store window or the like, even the passage of a street car will cause the eyes to move.

Another way of causing the eye movement would be to move the toy or object around horizontally. When this is done, the eyes will move, and if the toy or object movement is continued, one set of pupils will disappear while another set will appear from the other side.

It is believed that within the scope of the claim, certain changes of design can be effected, without departure from the spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is:

In a hollow doll head or the like having spaced openings extending therethrough defining eye sockets, movable eyes for said eye sockets comprising a supporting bar mounted within the head immediately below the openings, spaced parallel pintles carried by the bar and extending REFERENCES CITED perpendicularly therefrom said pintles inter The following references are of record in the seating the axes of the openings in the head, file of this patent. compass needles mounted on the pintles for universal movement relative thereto, hollow 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS spherical globular shells carried. by and en- Number Name Date closing the compass needles, said shells entering 710,627 Sullivan Oct. 7, 1902 in the eye sockets and being visible from the 1,784,921 Winters lQe c, 16, 1930 exterior of the head, and each shell carrying 1,981,333 Schavoir; Nov. 20, 1934 on its outer surface at least one simulated eye 10 2,427,210 Harding Sept. 9, 1947 pupil. 2,427,442 Campbell Sept. 16, 1947 DAVID E. MACDONALD. FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date r 4 468,749; Germany Nov. 22, 1928 

